Just to expand on the Wiki articles on Eloi and the Morlocks . . . H.G. Wells got the name for the latter from the ancient pagan god Moloch.
Statues of Moloch were supposedly hollow and made of brass - sacrifices (animals, produce, and people) were put into the stature, which was then heated by a fire underneath. The sacrifices were cooked/burned to death.
So Wells was inspired to coin the name Morlocks by ". . . those who worked in the fiery belly of Moloch . . ." which was how some people in Wells' time described steel mill workers, who, in Wells time, were seen as the fundamental base of a newly industrial society.
Wells had respect for the productive members of society, and none for the non-productive members of society (the Eloi) . . . so in Wells' mind, the Morlocks actually deserved to eat the Eloi . . . they'd earned that right.
